They have rebooked the O2 Arena and rehired James Corden as host, but while
last year’s Brits was an invasion of the folkies, Mumford & Sons
and Laura Marling beating their poppier and rockier brethren, 2012 is all
about the solo artists. Among the nominees performing on Tuesday night will
be Adele, Rihanna, Jessie J, Bruno Mars, Florence Welch and Ed Sheeran,
right.

If audiences and critics are divided by the guileless confessionals of Sheeran
(the overachiever of the year with four nominations), then there is an
uncanny consensus on Adele (who has three). Tottenham’s Piaf was catapulted
into a